OK So no I’m not wondering if Jon Snow is dead. Cause he is, but that’s not’s what is bothering me right now. (Don’t worry Jon Snow people– I’ll come back to this in a bit).

The Wall

They open up the episode at the wall showing Davos finding Jon Snow dead on the snow and quickly he and some other good guys get him into a room where they can watch over him.

Important things going on right here:

Davos saw an image in the snow when they pulled him away. While watching this Sunday I rewound it twice to see the blood again and it definitely looks like a dragon that my kids drew in the snow.

Ghost is still guarding Jon. I think if Jon was beyond hope Ghost would be out searching for his brothers and sister. Now don’t get me wrong– Jon’s definitely dead right this second but once again I’ll come back to that in a bit.

They all verify that Jon is totes dead.

Melisandre begins to doubt herself. She mentions that she saw Jon fighting at Winterfell in her flames, but he’s right there dead on the table. Davos also asks her to do something and she says that she can’t. Now that right there surprised me. My theory has always been that she would resurrect Jon so her despair worried me for a bit.

Note: in the books Bowen Marsh is the one that initiated all the stabby time with Jon, not Alliser Thorne. But he didn’t like him either.

Ramsey Bolton

Yep. Still psycho. Only he would feed his girlfriend to his hounds. Also why isn’t he out looking for Sansa and Theon? Seems right up his alley. My guess is just because the writers didn’t want to explain why Brienne didn’t slit his throat. Because she would have.

But Sansa is away from him now as is Theon. So that’s awesome.

Sansa

I love Theon for trying to protect her, but she’s still sooooo stupid and annoying. She’s the worst in the books and even though they have changed the plot in the show to give her more action she’s still whiny and only thinks of herself. I’m glad she’s accepted Brienne’s pledge now so at least we’ll get to see Brienne and Pod in her scenes.

Also hopefully she won’t trust Littlefinger any more. But she’s stupid so she probably will.

Why did she not remember the words of the oath? Seems like something romantic and exciting that she would have had memorized.

Cersei and Jaime

Right now all things are awesome with Jaime and Cersei. He’s once again her fighter and her champion. However in the books he had already abandoned her because he had seen how she was just trying to use him. I really hope that they are headed in that direction. Cersei doesn’t really love Jaime, she loves the idea that someone is there that would do anything for her. I want him to find out every nasty thing she has done and hate her for it.

Because as much as Cersei has used Jaime he has done everything she has ever asked out of love and devotion for her.

Margaery Tyrell

Well, she’s still locked up and in a bad situation. Once again they have deviated from the books in this aspect. In the novels she was released pretty quickly because they tortured her accuser who then admitted to having sex with Cersei, not Margaery, and Margaery was released into Sam’s dad’s custody (yes Jon Snow’s Sam).

I’m curious to see where they are going with this. I’m not sure what to think of her situation right now.

Dorne

Yeah I don’t really know what to say about this crap. Maybe the writers just didn’t like writing about this place? Is it not an overall important plot point?

This is not what was happening in Dorne in the books and Doran was super in control of his country and the Sand Snakes. He also was a huge schemer and although he appeared weak at times it was because he was plotting some pretty big crap. So I’m sad this is messed up, but maybe it’ll get better?

Tyrion and Varys

Mandatory Tyrion scene, because this episode is light on comedy and they need to remind us that:

Dany’s kingdom is in trouble without her

Tyrion and Varys are both still awesome

Dany needs to hurry on back home ASAP

Someone shady is watching them

Daenery

We are reminded that Jorah is super sick and has a limited time span to help his queen, and he’s on her trail.

She’s not in the best situation either. After letting her captors know who she is they now want to take her to their Khaleesi retirement community that she’s already seen isn’t an awesome place to be.

This is interesting in that we have now moved past the books in her story. So what I see from here on out will be completely new.

I know one thing for sure. She needs to figure out how to warg into her dragon so she can get back home and take control of her life again. Until she can control Drogon she will not be in control of anything.

Arya

This is another reminder scene. Yes Arya is still alive. Yes she’s still blind. Don’t worry things are about to get super interesting for Arya real quick.

Melisandre

OK we are finally to the person that I think might have died this episode. We had made it almost this whole episode without seeing any boobs so you know that had to change! So tada! Here’s the red witch getting ready for bed showing her boobs. Then she takes off her necklace.

Well in the books it explained a lot more that Melisandre had the power to change appearances of people with her magic and it worked as long as they wore a stone. So this does make sense even tough it seems to have come out of no where in this episode because it hasn’t been addressed much before now. So she looks really old and climbs in bed all old and crusty.

So my questions are:

Will she die then? And has she realized how much she’s messed everything up?

Jon Snow

At last! I told you I would come back to this and here I am. We have a few interesting things happen to Jon this episode with promises of things to come. What am I talking about? Well we had the aforementioned blood dragon in the snow that seems an awful lot like foreshadowing and we have a witch that doesn’t think she can do anything to save him. I also mentioned that Ghost was seriously protective of Jon’s body.

So here’s my thought:

I do think that Jon is 100% dead because he needs to die to be released from his oaths to the Night’s Watch. I also had thought that he would be brought back by the red witch, but now that she’s seemingly given up my thought is that he needs to be brought back by the same kind of magic that was used to hatch Dany’s dragons. So when they burn his body– which they will do because–the North–zombies– etc. will he rise from the ashes? It would reinforce even more his Targaryen blood and be a more pure form of magic.

I just really hope we don’t have to wait all season to find out how Jon Snow is returning. Because he is returning. Anyone telling you different is selling something.

That clickbait title is for all four of my brothers– if no one else thinks it’s funny– they will. Can you do clickbait ironically? I’m going to assume so. Seriously though– don’t be sad, I bring hope. All is not lost. Everyone is (probably) not dead.

Overall HBO has done a great job of translating George R.R. Martin’s very long, very detailed, sometimes rambling book series to screen. However, they have left out one very important detail that ties the story together. This post will contain some spoilers– possibly (since the show has deviated away from the books some things I think are spoilers may not ever show up). My goal is not to ruin big plot points, but make events that are about to happen and what has already happened make more sense. I will mark these parts with spoiler warnings, but there is one thing you have to know to understand what I’m about to say. So I’m about to explain R+L=J. If you don’t know what that means already and have no desire to know more about Jon Snow, then stop reading now.

Who is Jon Snow?

OK so Jon Snow’s parentage is something that, as a TV viewer you might assume is just what it seems. That Ned Stark came home from war and brought a bastard child back with him. Catelyn asked about Jon Snow’s mother at one point and Ned evidently lost it and told her to never as about Jon’s mother again. There were rumors that his mother was a few different women, from washerwomen to another noble’s child. Ned told Jon that they would talk about his mother when he returned from King’s Landing (yeah about that. . .) so the one person we know for sure knew of Jon’s parentage is dead and, although I think Howland Reed knows as well, that isn’t known for sure.

I could go on and on about all the possibilities, but the reigning theory (that I also believe) is that Rhaegar didn’t kidnap Lyanna Stark, but that they ran away together. King Robert talks to Ned about how Lyanna was taken and raped by Rhaegar, but if they ran away together then everything was consensual and it is very possible that Lyanna became pregnant and gave birth to a baby (a baby born of fire and ice— dum dum dummmmm). Lyanna is known for saying “Promise me Ned” on her deathbed, so perhaps she was securing his promise to keep Jon Snow’s ancestry a secret and to raise the baby as his own.

That’s all I’m going to go into that though— there are pages and pages on the Internet arguing for this theory and if you need more info– Google is your friend.

Why is his parentage important?

Because theories, prophesies and stuff. Keep reading– I get to that.

The Prince that is Promised

Rhaegar becomes obsessed with the prophesy of the Prince that was Promised. He believes that this prince will be born from his bloodline. The prophesy is very old so this is something that people have been waiting on for a long time (also it’s been a long time since White Walkers were up and about so. . .). Some of the signs of the advent of the Prince that was Promised are:

A bleeding star (which might lean towards Dany being the Prince(ss) because she was reborn during the red comet), the prince is the blood of the dragon (so this works for both Dany and Jon), born in smoke and salt (Dany was born during a violent storm surrounded by the sea– and then again when she burned her dead husband, her witchy midwife and walked among the flames herself; Jon Snow was born during battle when Ned was “rescuing” Lyanna from the Tower of Joy in Dorne (near the sea)), return of dragons (OK this leans towards Dany a lot), and “the dark eye” falls upon them– no not Sauron. The dark eye could be many things including the evil beyond the wall or the witches that are giving Dany crap.

Azor Ahai

Azor Ahai is a hero from history that had a sword called Lightbringer (that he made by cooling the metal off in his wife’s heart– nothing says “I love you” like stabbing your wife in the chest with a molten sword). He did all kinds of awesome crap and defeated the Others (yeah those guys), but it was prophesied that he would be reborn. Melisandre has been working under the assumption that Stannis is Azor Ahai. She thinks he’s Azor Ahai because he is from Dragonstone, but I feel like that’s a weak reason. She’s also seen it in her fires, but here lately (in the books) she has been asking the flames to see Azor Ahai, but “all she can see is snow.”

There are some signs for this hero that overlap with The Prince that was Promised including the red comet. It’s said that after “the long summer” this hero will return to fight the Others and will wield Lightbringer. Melisandre uses the terms The Prince that was Promised interchangeably, but it’s not for sure that these are the same people.

That whole Oath issue

So what if Jon Snow really is either of these people. He’s sworn to serve the Night’s Watch until death. So even if he is a Targaryen prince and the savior of the world he can’t break his vows to the Night’s Watch. Welp that’s where Bowen Marsh and some other black brother’s come in. HERE ARE SOME HUGE SPOILERS if you haven’t watch the season finale. So go away if you have no desire for such.

The brother’s of the Night’s watch are super unimpressed with pretty much everything Jon has done while he has been Lord Commander. So when he decides to march on Winterfell to try to save his sister (who isn’t really his sister, but he doesn’t know that yet) the guys aren’t super excited about that. So Bowen Marsh and some others stab Jon Snow and it appears that he’s dying. Stay with me here though that’s a good thing. To be released from his oath to the wall honorably he would have to die. Melisandre is at the wall (in the books and at the last minute in the show) and her religion is known for raising people from the dead (Catelyn Stark was one of those– but that’s been left out in the show). So he could be revived by Melisandre and then go save the world by being Azor Ahai.

Also since he’s a Targaryen his funeral pyre might awaken his dragon blood somehow (with the help of Melisandre’s blood magic) and he might have a scene very similar to Dany’s funeral scene when her dragons were born.

But what about Dany?

So many of the signs could also apply to Dany as well. So what do I say about that? The Dragon has three heads. So Dany has her three dragons and they all need riders. She has Drogon, I think Jon’s dragon is Viserion (cause it’s all white and stuff), and then they have a spare (Rhaegal) to be ridden by a yet to be determined Targaryen. (Or perhaps just a yet to be determined badass– come on Arya– no I don’t really think she’ll get one, but it’d be awesome).

So Keep Hope!

So don’t worry– Jon Snow may be stabbed and dying in the snow, but I think he’s calling out to his dragon mentally (he’s searching for Ghost, but he’s locked away so he’s actively trying to warg with something) and his dragon (who is now free) will come and find him at the wall. This will bring Dany and Jon together (and Jon can teach her how to warg) and then they can set fire to all the bad guys and ride off into the sunset on their dragons. While holding hands. Right?

Seriously though. I do think they will end up on the same side and rain down terror upon all the people/monsters that really know nothing.

I hope this help you in your despair about Jon Snow. I don’t think he’s really dead, or at least not permanently dead.

Now if George R.R, Martin would hurry and finish the next book so I can be proven right or wrong.

Just so you know:

Kit Harrington is stating that Jon Snow is really dead, but he could still be really dead, but still going to be returned. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t focus a lot on Bran next season (remember him?) and going into some of the historical events that we’ve only heard about up to this point (Bran can look through time through the weirwood trees). Then finally reveal what’s going on with Jon late into season 6.

Well we ended last week with Jorah delivering his gift to Dany and her not really knowing what to do with him. It looks like right now not much has changed in that aspect.

Dany and Tyrion

We open up this episode with Dany questioning Tyrion about why she shouldn’t just kill him right now (which she has a point) and asking Tyrion what he thinks she should do with Jorah (who she told she’d kill if he came back).

Tyrion points out that he’s kill more Lannisters than anyone else she knows and that he knows more about her than she probably knows about herself. I’m glad that Dany seems to be impressed with this.

This right here is a complete departure from the books (at least as far as he’s written so far), but it’s something that the books have been working toward. In the books right now Tyrion is a slave right outside Mereen who later frees himself and escapes to hide in a mercenary war camp– all the while waiting to get to meet Dany.
Dany on the other hand is out in the wilderness with Drogon who swooped into the fighting pits to eat some easy prey and she jumped on his back to try to save him from the people that wanted to kill him. Now she’s abandoned in the wilderness unable to control her dragon (which I’m pretty sure Tyrion knows the secret to this–which I’m also pretty sure is warging to control them like the Starks do to their wolves) and on her period. (Yep totally on her period– which is worth mentioning because she was told that would never happen again after she sacrificed her baby to save Drogo).

OK so all that about the dragon and the fighting pits might happen next week and if it does I apologize for the spoilers, but I’m really not sure where the writers are headed right now. Dany meeting Tyrion and actually getting advice from someone who has run Westeros before though is a great development. He knows all the houses and how they will react to her and he knows all the ways that she could take over that part of the world. Up to now she’s been getting advice from old warriors who were never politicians or people that have never been to that part of the world. I can’t wait to see what Tyrion makes of the politics of Mereen and how long he comes to the same conclusion I did— the dragons need to be seen and feared. Without her dragons she has no power.

Needless to say though Tyrion and Dany working together is going to be something amazing to watch.

Oh and Jorah is sad and gets banished–rubs some on his greyscale and then returns to the fighting pits. I’m not sure what his play is here, but I’m curious as to why he did this.

Cersei

The Queen is locked away without food or water until she confesses. We see her get struck across the face with a wooden spoon when she refuses to do so. She finally gets to hear the charges against her (fornication, treason and incest– not far off the mark there) and told that none of her family is coming to save her. Not even Jaime (remember– as Tyrion left he told Jaime that Cersei was having sex with everyone she could and he can’t get that out of his mind. Of course in the show he’s in Dorne, but still not racing back to her.

She rounds out this episode by licking water off the nasty floor. So things are going great for her.

Arya

Arya is working on her lying skills and is telling Jaqen all about her life at the canals. She makes an adorable oyster saleswoman. She is being given her first job in this new role and is figuring out what she’s supposed to do. She’s been given the job of killing an insurance salesman who isn’t paying out to widows.

This right now is going along pretty evenly with the books. Except instead of Lana of the Canals she’s Cat of the Canals and is given the same task, but told it has to look like he just died. It cannot look like murder at all. I liked that she was Cat in the books because is spoke to her life with her mother as well as her new found ability to warg into animals besides her wolf. Also they aren’t mentioning that she’s having wolf dreams every night and that her connection with her wolf back in the Riverlands is growing stronger. I really wish they would touch on the whole warging thing more because I feel like that’s going to be important later on. . .but I’m not a writer for the show so. . . .

Sansa and Theon/Reek

Sansa confronts Theon about him telling on her. Theon is 100% Reek in this scene, but she manages to find out that Bran and Rickon really aren’t dead. Theon lets it slip, but runs away when he realizes what he’s admitted to. Hopefully this means that he’s finally working his way out of Ramsey’s control. Maybe. Hopefully.

In the books he’s cowed still by Ramsey, but with the arrival of the outsiders that have come for the wedding Theon is given a little more status since the guests expect to see Theon the prince there not Reek the servant. The storyline that I’m really sad they’ve left out is that Mance wasn’t really killed at the wall, but a wildling called Rattleshirt was and Mance has taken Rattleshirt’s place with the help of magic from Melisandre. She then changes his appearance again and is sent to Winterfell as a traveling minstrel and his “sisters” aka other wildling women meant to look like regular camp followers. They are sent to break “Arya” out and get Theon to help with this. I’m really sad they left all this out because it creates some warm feelings towards Melisandre– who hasn’t needed any up to now and it shows the ingenuity of the wildlings around the Boltons.

The Boltons

They are discussing Stannis and his plans and Ramsey offers to take 20 men out into the snow to take down Stannis. Lets just say they are both insane and horrible people and then just move on from this right now. I’m sure it will be gross and graphic later on.

The Wall

So we see Gilly and Sam being all awkward and post coital, but then Olly manages to come in and be Debbie Downer. He expresses his doubts about what Jon is doing and his hatred for the Wildlings. Olly is a new character and I really don’t know why there is such an emphasis on his character unless it’s just to remind you that the Wildlings aren’t all nice people and they’ve done horrible things.

Meanwhile Jon has landed at Hardhome with Tormund to try to negotiate with the Wildlings there to come back and help the Night’s Watch hold the Wall. Evidently Rattleshirt (aka Lord of Bones) is the leader of this group and he doesn’t want anything to do with the new arrivals (remember I mentioned him earlier and how he was killed by Melisandre). Welp he keeps insulting Tormund so Tormund takes his staff from him and beats him to death with it. All the Wildlings doubt Jon’s word, but eventually everyone but the Thenn’s agree to go with Jon and they very very slowly start getting on boats.

They load up a good number people and then suddenly the wights attacked the walls and for some reason instead of loading the boats faster they stood around and stared at the skeletal beings that were breaking down the walls. They move from staring at them to fighting them which does about as much good (once again why are they not sticking people into boats as fast as possible?).

Then all of a sudden the White Walkers themselves show up and Jon gets into a fight with one that looks like it’s not going to end well for Jon when a theory from the books is finally confirmed in that although all other blades have shattered against the White Walkers Jon’s holds up. It not only holds up it kills the Walker and turns the tide of the battle.

The reason this is true is because Jon’s sword is Valyrian steel and forged with magic from Ancient Valyria as well as dragon’s breath (dragon steel is another name for it– which sounds familiar like dragon glass you could say). Then as the people load the last of the ships that are able to escape Captain Barbossa the Night’s King (aka the head White Walker) shows up and tells the boys to take a walk. The furious onslaught of the undead is more than the remainder can handle and the battle is soon lost. The Night’s King then reanimates all the dead and Jon stares on in horror from his (painfully slowly) retreating boat.

So this doesn’t happen at all in the books. He does send people to Hardhome to try to save them and bring them back to the Wall, but he doesn’t go himself. Also in the books the whole Valyrian steel theory hasn’t been tested yet, but Sam suspects that it will work. I’m pretty sure this was an interlude for everyone watching to allow them some action in a otherwise battle light season. I do question the wight and White Walker’s lack of fear of fire. In the books and the show they have been scared or at least repelled by fire, but aren’t phased at all by it this go round.

There are a lot of revelations this episode, fan theories proven right and fan desires made true. I have to say even though I don’t always support their departures from the books, it is making it an interesting watch.